The concept of cleansing and conditioning detersive products has drawn great attention since its launch in the early 1980's. From a technical point, cleansing and conditioning are contradictions, since conditioning has to deposit some ingredients on an object and cleansing has to remove the deposited ingredients from the object. To combine cleansing and conditioning in detersive products means when the product removes the dirt from the object, the product also simultaneously deposits some conditioning ingredients on the object. The conditioning effects depend on the equilibrium between the removed dirt, conditioning ingredient and deposit conditioning ingredients. For hair products, conditioning involves depositing certain agents onto the hair to give it the protection, softness, shine and detangling effects. Less deposition means less conditioning and more deposition means more conditioning or over conditioning.
To achieve proper conditioning formulations, chemists are faced with the challenge of choosing the appropriate conditioning ingredients, the proper ratio of conditioning ingredients to surfactants and methods of incorporating conditioning ingredients into the detersive system to form stable products.
A conditioning ingredient should have the basic characteristic of being water-insoluble, easy to be spread and have some affinities with the application objects. Polysiloxane, such as dimethicone, and derivatives are water-insoluble and are widely used conditioning ingredients. Furthermore, polysiloxanes usually give good hair protection, softening, shine and detangling effects.
The various technical methods for incorporating polysiloxanes, such as dimethicone, into the detersive products have been patented. The focus is on the particle size distribution of dimethicone surfactant emulsion and stability of the shampoo. Smaller particle size means more stability and more deposition to the targeted object.
Although some success has been achieved in being able to incorporate polysiloxanes, such as dimethicones, into detersive compositions, other challenges still remain. It remains a challenge to be able to formulate a stable conditioning/detersive composition, especially when a polysiloxane (e.g. dimethicone) is employed. Considering the regular viscosity of the detersive composition and the relatively lightweight of the conditioning ingredients, it is very difficult to achieve a long-term stability of the products. For example, the products tend to separate with the conditioning ingredients settling on top of the water-detergent solution. Furthermore, it remains a challenge to be able to formulate a clear stable conditioning/detersive composition, especially when the conditioning ingredient is a polysiloxane.
There continues to be a need to have a more stable formulation having a conditioner and a detersive composition. In particular, there is a need to have a clear detersive formulation which comprises a polysiloxane.